Amtrak Bails on CA's High-Speed Rail

Amtrak has canceled an agreement with the California High-Speed Rail Authority to pursue contractors to build trains that could operate on both traditional and bullet-train systems, the Associated Press reports.

In the latest blow to the high-speed rail project embraced by Gov. Jerry Brown, Amtrak and state authorities determined that the technical demands of the two rail systems were too different to support a common train.

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A spokesperson for the state told the AP that the cancelation of the contract with Amtrak would not affect the schedule or cost of the high-speed rail project as a whole, but merely Amtrak’s participation in the system.

Still, repeated setbacks and cost overruns have aroused opposition to high-speed rail, and the U.S. House voted to block further federal funding to it, though Gov. Brown increased funding for it in the state’s new budget.

This post has been updated to credit the AP instead of the San Francisco Chronicle.